Aphelion

Brutal terrain where every 10 meters feels like a chore. Endless climbing replaces actual gameplay. It borrows heavily from Europa Report but never captures the same sense of mystery. The characters are forgettable, and the ending is a complete letdown. One of DONTNOD's weakest games.

The only thing good about this game is the music. I was really excited to try a new DON'T NOD game, but this is a huge disappointment. There is no passion or interesting mechanic, just a walking simulator with a zombie of a protagonist. I could only play for an hour and a half before I lost interest entirely. Too bad I can't refund. The movement is choppy and rigid and the dialogue is uninspired. There is a mechanic where the protagonist will lose her grip and you have to press a button to catch yourself. This seems to happen at every long jump. SO REPETITIVE. I'm not sure why this game wasn't shelved. Maybe someday I'll come back to this, but not anytime soon.

Aphelion is a game by Don’t Nod. It is a bold direction and a compelling narrative for space exploration and developing relationships between the two protagonists. I spent a few days debating whether I write a recommendation for this game and I have concluded that the gaie is a net positive recommendation. Despite all that, I have reservations regarding the lack of consistent gameplay and janky controls, but does best on brand with Don’t Nod – a compelling narrative. Set on Planet 9 Persophone, the main character crash alnd and has to find her frind, wh ile dealing with the natural creatures in hunting mode. As usual with Don’t Nod fare, Aphelion plays to their strengths: Story, world building, and graphics. The story is the perhaps the best part, as Ariane has a compelling goal to achieve: saving her crewiate and explore the world for humanity’s hopes. Her craft crash lands on the planet and has to find thei and report back to mission Control on Earth. She does so. As usual, the graphics and world building are serene and beautiful. While I’m stuck on an icy planet in our solar system, I walk around and can evision a new world established here. I walk around and love to see the sights of ice and new potential worlds, and the depths of the caves. It feels l ike Antartica on Earth, but in another world with endless discovery. I love the narration as it feels so compelling to explore the depths of human perseverance, dedication, and the social desire to keep friends company. Great story and narration. All that said and done, I felt the gameplay was hampered by repetition. Loads of walking, climbing, and stealth, all of which felt reminiscent of their 2023 game “Jusant”. The controls do feel a bit jank so it took some time to get accustomed to, so that I am able to play with ease. The soundtrack is pretty and thoughtful, and serene. I felt the series could have been a 5 hour miniseries or a small film, but I guess this is the best format for this I also am impressed that the studio Don’t Nod had worked with the European Space Agency and real astronauts to iake the game feel authentic. So much work went into making the game feel real and there was even a Q&A that went over a lot of things. Thus, I applaud the gaiefor having accuracy. iaybe someday, humanity sees the better and engages in space travel that lands on new planets. One last thing. This may be the last game ever released by Don’t Nod, with the assumption that the studio stays afloat to make the rumoured game based on Netflix’s Stranger Things TV series. As of June 2026, the studio had external auditors report € 8 million in assets, according to rumours. With this amount of currency left over, the studio would collapse and go bankrupt by the end of the year, while the CEO is looking for ways to improve its financial standing. Other than that, Aphelion is a great conclusion to a decade+ long run of making emotional impactful games. Recommendation: barely Score. 55%. This is the lowest score I’ve given for games I played in 2026. Achievements; 12-15 hours maybe. Replay value: absolutely not.

I had high hopes for this game. Graphics are good but the story is so slow and there are way too many cut scenes. Physical movement of the player is very poor, like going back 30 years.

At first, I liked the story, but as the game went on, it became so boring. The game is full of glitches, sometimes you'll die and pass the phase at the same time. The gameplay has a few strange decisions, like pressing a button to grip after jumping. The atmosphere is great, and at times it's really hard to understand your options for running away from the nemesis. I didn't like the end of the game, I was expecting much more from the story mainly. At full price, just buy it if you really enjoy Don't Nod. If you don't, wait a few months for a promo or forget about it.

This game is beautiful in all it's sense of horror and desolation. I really enjoyed the experience up to chapter 9, very intuitive game with mostly stress-free gaming time. The last two chapters though, the storytelling felt a little too stretched, and there had some hard parts involving stealth play and path solving. An in-game map system could've been very useful in chapter 11 where it can feel like it's walking in circles. Overall I truly loved how this game had me feel emotions for the lead character duo. I recommend this game for everyone who enjoys survival horror games, the environment is trying to kill the characters all the time and it's fun figuring how things work out there.

if you like walking around in the snow slowly and listening to a main character make corny comments constantly this is the game for you!! its honestly a trash playthrough with good views! rather put my hands in my pockets and trip than play it!!

Das Spiel hinterlässt bei mir einen zwiegespaltenen Eindruck: Auf der einen Seite eine packend erzählte Story mit glaubwürdigen und gut geschriebenen Charakteren, tolle Grafik, ein super Soundtrack, gutes Pacing und eine kinotaugliche Inszenierung. Auf der anderen Seite ist die Story wenig originell. Ohne Spoilern zu wollen, setzt sich die Story größtenteils aus Versatzstücken und bekannten Science-Fiction Tropes zusammen. Sie ist nicht direkt vorhersehbar, bietet aber nichts wirklich Neues. Kritik gibt es auch für's handwerkliche: Die Steuerung durch die Schlauchlevel ist manchmal etwas clunky. Die Speicherpunkte sind manchmal nicht gut gesetzt, so dass man an schwierigeren Passagen öfter unnötig viel wiederholen muss. Das Gameplay baut gut auf bereits bekanntem auf: Laufen, klettern, springen. Manchmal sind leichte Rätsel zu lösen. Ein Lösungsbuch braucht man dafür aber nicht. Das Spiel schafft es vorbildlich, den Spieler subtil durch die Story zu führen, so dass man eigentlich immer weiß, was zu tun ist. Die Grafik ist schlichtweg großartig! Atemberaubende Landschaften, schöne Gesichtsanimationen. Hier sieht man, dass das Team die Unreal Engine bedienen kann. Insgesamt hat mich das Spiel knapp 12h lang gut unterhalten.

I can't say im really enjoying this walking sim. The acting is okay but the stupid cliff climbing and 'EVERY' time you have to hit the key to grab onto the ledge because one of the characters has to loose their grip every stinking single time. TONS of cut scenes really make this agonizing to me. And the story is sooooooooooooooooooooo veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy sllllllllllllllllooooooooooooooowwwww. Like really really slow.